London bank official jailed for taking bribes

A U.K. court on 20th June sentenced a former London bank official to six years in prison for accepting more than £2million in bribes in return for approving large loans.

Andrey Ryjenko was convicted of conspiring to make or accept corrupt payments following a five-week trial at the Central Criminal Court. Ryjenko, who has joint U.K. and Russian citizenship, was employed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in a role that required him to consider equity investment and loan applications from firms.

He accepted bribes totalling over $3.5 million between July 2008 and November 2009, which were paid into bank accounts in the name of his sister, Tatjana Sanderson. Although charged, Sanderson was declared unfit to stand trial.

“Andrey Ryjenko repeatedly abused his position of power within a publicly-funded bank by accepting corrupt payments,” said Elspeth Pringle, a specialist prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service’s Specialist Fraud Division

“This conviction was made possible through effective cross-border partnerships between a number of jurisdictions, including the United States,” Pringle added.

Ryjenko was convicted of conspiring to make and accept corrupt payments; and of “concealing, disguising, converting, and transferring criminal property (money laundering).”